How to Back Date Your WordPress Posts (The Ultimate Guide for 2024)
Have you ever wanted to publish an older piece of content on your WordPress site or change the date of an existing post? WordPress makes it easy to back date your posts to any date and time in the past. Back dating can be useful in a variety of situations, but it‘s important to understand how it works and the potential impact on your site. In this ultimate guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about back dating WordPress posts in 2024.
Why Back Date a WordPress Post?
There are a few common reasons you might want to back date a post on your WordPress site:
Publishing old content: If you have articles or other content that you wrote in the past but never published online, you can add it to your WordPress site and set the publish date to when it was originally written. This is a good way to fill out your archives or showcase your past work.
Keeping a content calendar consistent: Let‘s say you aim to publish a new post every Monday. But one week, you don‘t have time to write, so you miss your deadline. With back dating, you can write the post later but set the publish date to the Monday when it should have gone live. This keeps your publishing schedule looking consistent.
Removing posts from the front page: Only your most recent posts appear on the homepage of your WordPress site. If you publish a post that you don‘t want featured on the front page, you can back date it to a date before your current posts. This will push the back-dated post off the homepage into your archives.
How to Back Date a Post in WordPress
Now that you know why back dating is useful, let‘s go through the steps for how to actually back date a post in WordPress:
Open the post you want to back date in the WordPress editor. This can be a new draft you‘re writing or an existing published post that you want to change the date for.
In the Settings sidebar on the right, click to expand the "Status & visibility" section.
Next to "Publish", click on the "Immediately" link. This will open a date and time picker.
Choose the date in the past that you want the post to be published on. You can also adjust the exact time if needed.
After selecting a date, the "Publish immediately" button will change to "Schedule for [your selected date]". You can also manually change the button to "Update" for posts that are already published.
Click the "Schedule" or "Update" button and your post will be back dated to the selected date and time.
It‘s important to note that back dating a post will change its position in your archives, category pages, tag pages, and search results. The post will show up in these places according to the back-dated publish date, not the date when you originally hit publish. So if you back date a post from 2024 to 2022, it will display in your 2022 archives.
Back dating will also affect the post‘s position in your All Posts list in the WordPress admin. The posts are ordered chronologically, so a back-dated post will move down the list to where it falls based on the adjusted publish date.
One other thing to keep in mind is that back dating does not change the "Last Updated" date that shows on some themes. By default, WordPress only has a "Published on" date, but some themes and plugins add a "Last Updated" date as well. We‘ll talk more about this later and how you can control which date is shown.
Considerations for SEO and User Experience
Before you go back dating all your posts, there are a few potential downsides to consider in terms of SEO and user experience.
From an SEO perspective, there‘s a myth that you should remove dates from your posts altogether to make your content look "evergreen" to search engines. The idea is that search engines won‘t see the post as outdated if there‘s no date, and it will rank better. But this is misguided.
In reality, removing dates can actually hurt your search rankings because it‘s bad for user experience. Dates help people understand the context and relevance of a post. If a user searches for "best smartphones in 2024" and finds an article with no date, they have no idea if the information is still current or not. This uncertainty can lead to a poor user experience and lower engagement, which are negative SEO factors.
Rather than removing dates or using back dating to game search engines, it‘s better to keep your original publish dates and focus on keeping your content updated over time. You can also implement a "Last Updated" date to show that older posts are still being maintained.
From the user experience side, back dating posts can also be confusing if not done carefully. If a user finds a post in your 2022 archives that references events or products from 2024, it might not make sense. Back dated posts can also upset the chronological flow of a blog.
So while back dating has its uses, it‘s best reserved for specific situations rather than being used on a widespread basis. When you do back date a post, make sure the content still makes sense for the new publish date.
Showing an Updated Date on Posts
If you have old posts on your WordPress site that you regularly update, showing an updated date can be really useful for readers. This lets people know that even though the post was originally published a while ago, the content is still being maintained and is up-to-date.
Some WordPress themes have a built-in "Last Updated" date feature that will automatically show when a post was last modified. But if your theme doesn‘t have this, you can add it with a bit of code.
To manually add an updated date to your theme, you‘ll need to edit your theme files. Look for the file that controls how single posts are displayed, which is usually single.php or content-single.php.
Find the part of the file that displays the published date, and replace it with code like this:
<p class="last-updated">
Last updated on <time class="entry-date" datetime="<?php echo get_the_modified_date( ‘c‘ ); ?>"<?php echo get_the_modified_date(); ?></time>
</p>This will display the date the post was last updated instead of the original publish date. Just keep in mind that this will change the date for all posts on your site, so it might not make sense to use in all cases.
If you only want to show an updated date on specific posts, you could also use a plugin like Post Updated Date. This lets you choose which posts display a modified date and also lets you set the date manually rather than using the automatic date of the last edit.
Alternatives to Back Dating Posts
If you‘re considering back dating a post to remove it from your front page or change its position in your archives, there are a few other options to consider as well:
Scheduling posts for the future: Instead of back dating a post, you can set a post to be published in the future. This is good if you want to write a post ahead of time but publish it later.
Using "sticky" posts: WordPress has a built-in feature called "sticky posts" that lets you keep selected posts at the top of your front page. If you want a certain post to stay on the homepage, you can make it sticky instead of back dating other posts to push it down.
Changing your homepage settings: By default, your WordPress homepage displays your most recent posts. But you can change this to a static page in your Reading settings. With a static homepage, you have full control over which posts are featured on the front page regardless of publish date.
Manual ordering plugins: There are also plugins available that let you manually set the order of posts on your blog page or in certain categories. This might be a good solution if you need more granular control over post positioning.
Advice for Using Back Dating Effectively
Here are a few final tips for using back dating effectively on your WordPress site:
Use back dating sparingly. In most cases, it‘s best to keep the original publish date on a post. Only back date when you have a specific reason to do so.
Make sure back dated content is still relevant. If you back date a post to 2020, make sure it doesn‘t reference events or information from later years. Update the content if needed to align with the back dated publish date.
Consider showing an updated date. If you have old posts that you update regularly, displaying an updated date can be more useful for readers than changing the publish date.
Don‘t use back dating to game search engines. Removing dates or back dating posts won‘t help your search rankings, and it can even hurt if it leads to a poor user experience. Focus on creating quality content instead.
Use other tools when appropriate. Back dating isn‘t always the best solution. Consider alternatives like scheduling future posts, using sticky posts, or changing your homepage settings depending on your goals.
Back dating is a powerful tool in WordPress that gives you full control over your post dates, but it‘s important to use it thoughtfully. When used strategically, back dating can help you keep your blog archives consistent, feature important content, or publish dated material. But when overused, back dating can get confusing for readers and search engines alike.
By following the steps and advice in this guide, you‘ll be able to harness the power of back dating your WordPress posts effectively in 2024 and beyond. Always prioritize user experience and creating quality content, and your site will be set up for success.
